Elisabeth Elliot
Elisabeth Howard Elliot, one of the most influential christian women in the past century, was born on December 21, 1926 in Belgium to two missionary parents. Elisabeth and her parents moved to Philadelphia when she was ten months old. By the time she was a young adult, Elisabeth had four brothers and one sister.
Elisabeth attended Wheaton College, which is where she met her future husband, Jim Elliot. Philip James “Jim” Elliot was born on October 8, 1927 and wanted to become a missionary. Both Jim and Elisabeth went to Ecuador to translate the New Testament and to spread the gospel.
In 1953 Jim and Elisabeth became husband and wife while they were in Quito, Ecuador.
In January of 1956 when their daughter, Valerie, was only ten months old, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, and Pete Fleming went to evangelize to a group of people called the “Aucua”. The “Aucua” are now known as the “Huaorani”. After a short friendly interaction with one of the Aucua people, the rest of the Aucua people came out of hiding and speared all the missionaries to death.
Even though Elisabeth Elliot endured the pain and sorrow of the death of her husband and close friends she said, “At the time we just felt like God was in the whole thing and there wasn't anything that wasn't in the providence of God.” She also once stated, “I have one desire now: to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.” Elisabeth Elliot certainly lived up to that; after going through the death of her husband by the Aucuas, she and the other missionary wives continued to evangelize and talk to the exact same people group because she knew that was what God had called her to do. . Elisabeth Elliot and those women showed a tremenous amount of faith by continuing their husbands work.
Elisabeth did missionary work for many years.
After she returned to the United States, Elisabeth began writing books. With over thirty books published, some of her most famous works are: “Passion and Purity”, “Let Me Be a Woman” in which one of her famous quotes “The fact that I'm a woman doesn't make me a different Christian, but the fact that I'm a Christian makes me a different kind of woman” comes from, “Through the Gates of Splendor”, “The Shaping of a Christian Family”, and many more. Elisabeth Elliot who also became a public speaker, spoke at conventions and churches all over the country. Between the years 1988-2001, Elisabeth was appeared on a daily radio progrm titled, “Gateway to Joy”. She spoke in public, encouraged young women, and counseled new missionaries until her death on June 15, 2015, at the age of 88. Elisabeth lived north of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband, Lars Green.
Her quotes, “Don't dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.” and “The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat.” are just a few of countless quotes that have helped many Christians in the past 60 years. Elisabeth Elliot was a strong woman of faith that all Christians can learn from and look up to. The legacy she left behind for all women is one to follow.
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